What Is It?

When building something engaging, functional and complex, a blueprint is a crucial piece. So when an organization is building its social media strategy, the same concept applies. Based on research, audits and the results of a collaborative working session, the Social Blueprint generates a “placemat” that keeps teams on task, provides a sense of shared progress and establishes post-session deliverables.

Many social media strategies fail for the same reasons:

Lack of connection to business results

Lack of shared agreement within the organization

Lack of resources to achieve goals

Lack of buy-in from senior leadership

Lack of communication and understanding of strategy

The Social Blueprint helps organizations address these common pitfalls and find answers to complex questions such as:

What are the benefits of a
Social Blueprint?

Creates a common language and
planning process that can be easily
understood and extended across
business units and markets.

Shares key issues and insights on
business and customers in an open
environment.

Reduces the time required to
interpret research and business
requirements (no “analysis
paralysis”).

Builds upon a foundation of
common elements (e.g., vision,
mission, brand proposition) while
still allowing local markets to tailor
programs to suit localized needs.

The output is a single slide summarizing an organization’s strategy. This allows the organization to clearly communicate the strategy to a wide group of stakeholders and to assess whether new initiatives are on strategy.

HOW IT WORKS

The Social Blueprint methodology uses a three-step approach:

1

Internal and external research is gathered and completed as necessary. From this research, key insights are derived and questions customized to address specific business objectives.

Questions should be designed and the research reviewed with the primary client contact in advance.

Decision‐making research is identified and shared with the working group in advance of the session.

2

The workshop takes place.

The power of a blueprint session is built into the process – participants leave the session with a single slide summarizing the organization’s social media strategy, a stark contrast to more traditional (and heftier) strategy documents.

Well‐defined challenges and guidelines create parameters for creativity and agreement.

3

The results of the workshop are compiled to create a single-slide “roadmap placemat.”

A statement of strategic intent is developed that all team members endorse and can act upon.

All elements are placed in a unified visual narrative that aids buy‐in and comprehension.

Follow‐up sessions and presentations may be conducted as desired, and the methodology may be repeated for multiple audiences or business units.

The Social Blueprint can also be deployed to rapidly gain alignment and actionable deliverables focused on the development of: